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Mandarin's Ten Rings real and slightly wrong names I was using in previous chapters.
Matter-Rearranger Ring, aka Remaker (worn in the right thumb) : matter reorganization
Impact Beam Ring, aka Influence (worn in the right index finger) : shock wave ring
Vortex Beam Ring, aka Spin (worn in the right middle finger) : air ring
Disintegration Beam Ring, aka Spectral (worn in the right ring finger) : atomic cutter
Black Light Ring, aka Nightbringer (worn in the right little finger) : dark force field
White Light Ring, aka Daimonic (worn in the left thumb) : gravity manipulation ring
Flame-Blast Ring, aka Incandescence (worn in the left index finger) : fire ring
Mento-Intensifier Ring, aka The Liar (worn in the left ring finger) : mental amplifier
Electro-Blast Ring, aka Lightning (worn in the left middle finger) : lightning ring
Ice Blast Ring, aka Zero (worn in the left little finger) : ice ring
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[ U.S. Military Base, Kandahar, Afghanistan ]
If she couldn't take the hand, then she'd settle for fingers. No time for hesitation. Her eyes skimmed over the five rings—Vortex Beam Ring and Impact Beam Ring were ignored first. The so-called Black Light Ring on the little finger? Useless. A glorified smoke bomb. She'd seen military-grade ones more efficient and less dramatic.
That left Matter-Rearranger Ring and Disintegration Beam Ring—both viable, both deadly. But the thumb was angled away, shielded. Only one choice remained. Her blade angled sharply toward the ring finger and sliced without mercy.
The adamantium dagger moved like liquid death.
Ssshrk!
And it didn't disappoint her.
"Aaargh—!" Mandarin's scream split the air as Daisy's dagger severed his ring finger clean off—along with Disintegration Beam Ring. His little finger wasn't spared either—half-hanging by torn skin and tendons.
Blood sprayed across the floor.
Daisy grimaced. "Should've brought my adamantium sword…" she muttered. That sword could take cut his both arms, not just one digit.
Without wasting a breath, she dove forward, scooped up the finger and ring in one motion, and bolted—didn't even glance back.
"You're coming with me," she told the severed digit, slipping it into a containment pouch like she was bagging groceries.
Disgusting? Yes. But she kept the severed finger. The DNA could prove useful if she needed to break the ring's biometric lock.
This time, She didn't hold back—she ran at full tilt, velocity maxed, every movement sharpened.
Behind her, a roar echoed through the base.
"Return it! My ring! Return it! Give it back!"
Mandarin's pain had made him reckless—and fast. Anger lit his veins and erased hesitation.
The loss of the Disintegration Beam Ring wasn't just painful—it was humiliating. He roared like a wounded beast, hurling threats as he gave chase.
She glanced back once, then again. The bastard was fast—unnaturally fast. Even in the confines of an indoor environment, he outpaced her. Out in the open sky, he could definitely break the sound barrier.
But the ring—it didn't want to stay.
It pulsed in her hand, responding to its master's call—alive in a way tech shouldn't be. Daisy didn't flinch. She just kept running.
But it keep pulsed violently in her hand, shuddering, fighting her grip like a live wire.
"Don't start that," Daisy snapped at it mid-run. "You're a glorified smartwatch with an attitude problem."
The ring thrashed harder in her palm.
She hissed, tightening her grip. "You wanna go back to your screaming man-child? Be my guest. But I'm offering you a better upgrade path."
"That old man's missing a finger," Daisy muttered to it as she ran, the ring still twitching in her palm. "So what's your plan now? Where exactly are you planning for him to wear you? Gonna take the place of the other rings? Or are you switching to toe jewelry?" Daisy's words were laced with detached sarcasm. It wasn't baseless.
In original timeline, after Mandarin's death, his ten rings had wandered the globe like those ridiculous power rings from DC. Some candidates were perfect in every way—except for having the wrong number or shape of fingers. The Hulk, for instance? Good luck squeezing a ring over those sausages.
"You rings ever heard of resizing?" she snapped.
The ring wasn't in the mood for sarcasm. It jerked again, violently—trying to escape her grip.
"Still trying to bail?" Daisy's smile turned cold. "Fine. You had your shot."
She didn't waste her breath anymore. She acted. She pulled out a compact box—a S.H.I.E.L.D.-issued device no bigger than a ring case. Its surface gleamed with a dull, metallic coating engineered to cut all incoming and outgoing signals. lined with shielding metal. Originally made for containing stolen tech and sensitive intel data drive, it severed all external signals. Today, it had a better use.
She'd brought it just in case. And now it was perfect for this rebellious artifact.
Click. Snap.
Once the ring was sealed inside, its struggle ceased instantly.
Outside, Mandarin howled like a wounded beast.
From the sounds echoing behind her, he was somewhere between ancient warlord and rabid animal, howling threats in dialects she didn't care to identify.
He was no longer posturing as a noble conqueror. His curses came unfiltered—vulgar, primitive, useless.
"He's really losing it," Daisy muttered, tucking compact box into her agent uniform.
Behind her, the hallway shook with Mandarin's pursuit—closer, louder, faster.
To slow him down.
Daisy didn't waste time. She spun, braced her stance, and punched a wall with all the force she had with her vibration energy-infused superhuman fist.
BOOM!
Concrete cracked like glass. Steel supports shrieked. Destabilizing load-bearing structures with surgical precision. The corridor behind her began to collapse in waves.
"Let's see you dance through this, old man."
She kept running—every ten steps, another wall went down. Ceiling tiles rained, lighting flickered. Rubble clattered behind her like bones.
Mandarin's voice echoed through the ruin, still stringing together curses in so many languages it sounded like a demonic orchestra.
"Die, you thieving harlot!"
"I will boil you in your own blood!"
"You dishonor the legacy of warriors!"
"Wow," Daisy muttered as she threw another shockwave down a hallway. "That escalated."
The damage was real. Concrete cracked like eggshells under pressure. This base had been built to survive a magnitude 7 quake. Daisy was exceeding that margin without breaking pace. Now the military base shook like a soda can ready to burst.
The thunderous crashes echoed behind her. Ceilings dropped, walls folded, corridors vanished in clouds of dust and rubble. The Mandarin had no choice but to maneuver through chaos, occasionally blasting through debris to stay on her trail.
...
The two generals exchanged a look, tension thick between them. They couldn't see the battlefield, but the sheer scale of destruction reverberating through the concrete was enough. Repair logistics were already flashing red in their minds. Reporting this would be a nightmare.
Whatever strategic value Kandahar once held, it was gone. After today, the Kandahar base might as well be erased from the U.S. military's deployment map. No one would admit it, but Daisy had succeeded where insurgents had failed for years.
...
Meanwhile, Daisy charged through the wreckage like a missile in shoes.
Her sleek black tactical suit was coated in gray dust and debris, her hair matted with plaster and ash.
She looked like she'd been bricking walls for a week straight. As she now resembled a worn-out construction worker more than a SHIELD agent. Only her silhouette gave away that she was a woman.
Behind her, Mandarin wasn't faring any better. The mythical grandeur he'd worn like a second skin was gone. His hair had dulled, his robe torn and ragged. Rage clung to him like sweat, and the overuse of the rings was finally catching up. But it was fury, not fatigue, that kept him going.
And now the ten-ring tyrant looked like a pissed-off opera villain at the end of a bad act.
But Daisy remained wary. A desperate man with power could always lash out unexpectedly. But his pride worked in her favor—he didn't want her dead. Not yet. He wanted to watch her break first.
She followed the prearranged escape path with precision.
Her heart pounded—not from fear, but calculation.
She knew where the trap was. Ten more seconds. Just ten more and he'd walk right into it.
As the trap point neared, she didn't hesitate and pushed harder, tapping into her last reserves and with one final burst of speed, and she left the old man behind.
...
Up ahead, Barbara hide behind wall with Colonel Rhodes, both watching the dust trail approach.
"That her?" Barbara asked.
Rhodes blinked. "That blur?" He was confused but he sill barked towards the dust trail approaching towards them. "Move, now! Over here!"
They were both tensed, waiting. Their part was next.
A crack echoed as Daisy blew past them, fast enough to whip their coats around.
Their ears rang. That sound—.
"Damn!" Rhodes exclaimed. "Did she just break the sound barrier—on foot?"
"No time to gawk," Barbara snapped, her hand poised over the panel. His training took over, Rhodes also placed his hand over the panel as well. "Three. Two. One—"
On cue, both slammed their hands on the trigger panel.
CLANG!
The alloy gate slammed down like judgment itself—thousands of pounds of metal sealed shut between Daisy and the charging Mandarin.
...
[ Nuclear Warheads Containment Chamber ]
This was a classified facility, disguised as an inactive storage site for nuclear warheads. The warheads themselves existed only on paper, but the warehouse was real—and formidable.
Despite the absence of live weapons, the military had constructed a vault exceeding bank-grade specifications. A hundred square meters of reinforced concrete, armored with embedded steel plating. It was a fortress that would take ordinary explosives—and men—three days to breach. But Mandarin wasn't ordinary.
The Mandarin reached the chamber's entrance, only to find himself boxed in. He stomped forward, his boots echoing off the metallic floor. The first colossal door slammed shut in front of him, and the second thundered down behind him. He paused—then laughed.
"You think this tin box can hold me?" he sneered, brushing dust from his shredded robes.
He raised both hands toward the front gate, rings glowing faintly—ready to melt his way through.
Then—hisssss!
FOUR high-pressure nozzles sprang from the walls, surrounding him in a perfect cross. They sprayed violently—streams of sizzling green corrosive acid arcing toward him.
"Tricks? From children?" he snarled, the acid rolled off harmlessly. It couldn't damage his skin—but it shredded his robes.
Burnt cloth clung to his frame like wet paper. His expression darkened.
Fighting naked was beneath him. He got annoyed, and spun in a circle—ICE ARROWS launched from his left hand, shattering all four sprayers in a crackling burst.
He straightened—only to hear the next trap activate.
WHOOOSH!
From all sides—cement. Thick, gooey, quick-drying sludge poured through concealed hatches like an industrial nightmare.
The Mandarin squinted, unimpressed.
"You insult me with… construction materials?"
Annoyance flickered across his face. This wasn't an attempt to kill—just to inconvenience.
He summoned flame from his left index ring—a roar of heat burned the cement in clumps, but the cost was a new hazard: noxious smoke curling in every direction, dense and suffocating. It also filled the air with a putrid stench.
He coughed. Just once. Then frowned.
Unbeknownst to him, in the dark corner of the room, something hissed—soft, nearly inaudible. Thin, almost invisible, greenish smoke began to seep out from micro-nozzles, blending into the smoke unnoticed.
This was a neurotoxin Daisy had knowledge of from her Seraphina's life.
Non-lethal, almost harmless in small doses. An ordinary man could swallow 3-4 grams of it and live to tell the tale. But that wasn't the point.
This gas didn't kill. It didn't choke. It simply crept into the bloodstream, coiled around neurons like snakes, and began its cruel work:
Paralysis.
It is ten times more potent than S.H.I.E.L.D.'s strongest anesthetics.
Harmless in every textbook—but to nerves? Merciless.
To Be Continued...
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[POWER STONES AND REVIEWS PLS]